Halo Resurrection
by Dramatization
Summary: The Master Chief and Cortana crash-land on Onyx, to re-kindle old alliances. After making a remarkable discovery, the crew returns to Earth to begin the reconstruction after the drawn-out Human/Covenant war.
1. Prologue: Shield World

"Wake me, when you need me" Master Chief, Spartan 117-John said wearily, pushing a button to close the cryo tube

"Wake me, when you need me" Master Chief, Spartan 117-John said wearily, pushing a button to close the cryo tube. He leaned back and made himself as comfortable as possible, meeting the AI Cortana's longing gaze before closing his eyes and allowing the cold sleep of the cryo tube take him.

Cortana watched as her partner, no, her _friend_, leaned back into the slim cryo tube and slipped into unconsciousness. With that, she gave a virtual sigh and began making calculations and observations. The broken half of the _Forward Unto Dawn_ did not possess adequate sensors and tools that she could use to enhance the odds that someone would find and rescue him, but she would make due with what she had. She slipped into what was left of the computer systems and made some observations on the planet she had noticed. Their half of the ship gently drifted towards the planet, falling into a geosynchronous orbit.

Her avatar narrowed its eyes, and puzzled over something she had spotted on the planets surface. The planet's crust seemed to be branded with a giant symbol. It looked familiar to her. She captured the image, and analyzed the image, comparing it with the dozens of Forerunner hieroglyphs stored in her database. Finally she found a direct match. The symbol was what her human masters had discerned as the term 'shield' when translated into the human tongues.

This confused her, why would the Forerunners build a 'shield' this close to the Ark. Did they want the Flood to infest what they had obviously built to protect them? Perhaps, it was a stretch, but perhaps there would be Forerunner ruins on the planet that could be salvaged. Vital information could be discerned, and the human/ Sangheili alliance could wipe out what remained of the Flood, then take on the Covenant loyalists that she knew would continue picking at the human worlds.

With the outline of a plan brought to the forefront of her central processing unit, she set to work analyzing what resources she had.

By a stroke of pure luck, which was almost expected with John around, the rear thrusters were intact and could function, though only at a fraction of their full capacity. Cortana wanted to reawaken John, but he had been fighting for months almost without rest. He deserved as long a break as she could give him.

With a figurative sigh, she rerouted as much power as she could muster from the rest of their half-a-ship towards the thrusters. She collected data from the sensors on the beacon she had dropped and discovered that the planet had an atmosphere nearly identical to that on the Halo rings.

Her first instinct was that this was another kind of Halo construct, and housed the Flood, but something else deep down told her that this was not the case. It _was_ called a shield after all.

She calculated and recalculated their trajectory based on satellite images of the planet. With this information in hand, she plotted a course for a relatively grassy lowland nearby a structure that was obviously not organic.

The battered ship half choked to life and shuddered violently as the thrusters kicked the ship forward. Cortana tried to steer as best she could, but the best she could do was angle the stubby remnants of fins towards her intended path.

It killed her to be so out of control in this situation, she usually had everything calculated and directed to her will, but she had never felt so… so helpless. She contemplated the odds of their landing safely. It wasn't looking too good, but she knew that John had landed safely from these heights before. All she could do was pray that their luck would hold out long enough for them to arrive alive.

The ship's thrusters did the job Cortana intended, and the planet's gravity began to pull them into its atmosphere.

"Hang on Chief," she whispered, though she knew he couldn't hear her. Worst case scenario, she thawed him as best she could and ejected his pod onto the surface. She couldn't bear to dwell on that thought though.

Cortana had always been _different_ somehow. She was unlike any other 'smart' AI. She experienced emotions that ran higher than any other smart AI she had encountered. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the woman she was based on was one of the most brilliant beings of their time. Dr. Catherine Halsey had had her brain flash cloned to become the basis for Cortana.

Cortana herself knew that Halsey harbored irrational feelings towards Spartan-117. He was a fine specimen both physically, and mentally. He was intellectual enough for both the doctor and Cortana to hold a decent conversation. If they didn't know themselves any better, they would have thought they were in _love_ with the Spartan somehow.

It was strange, Cortana often found herself thinking about John, even when she knew she had to be focused elsewhere. When she was within the clutches of the Flood intelligence known as the Gravemind, she had pined for him irrationally, and feelings of pure elation had coursed through her processing units when he recovered her on the newest Halo construct.

She shook off the memories and returned to the work at hand. The planet's gravity dragged the remnants of the _Dawn_ into the upper atmosphere and sent them into a freefall towards the crust.

Cortana began the thaw on John. He had only been frozen for several days, so it would not take long. Hopefully he would be nearly awake by the time they landed.

With that task done, she recalled her avatar and braced herself as best she could within her chip of memory crystal.


	2. Desolation

The sun was high in the "sky" as Kelly had tromped up one side of a smooth grassy knoll overlooking the forest. Three other figures moved silently with her towards the forest.

None of them carried assault weapons, as there was nothing really to assault. The creatures living in the forest were not aggressive, they didn't even put up much of a fight when the Spartan-IIs jabbed a knife into their jugulars.

Kelly sighed, it had been weeks since their arrival in this God-forsaken land. Not that it was bad, per say, but their exile, not knowing the fate of Earth, was unbearable. Dr. Halsey had been working all through the daylight hours attempting to break the spell that held them in this alternate reality.

Ever since they had arrived on Onyx, things had gone from bad to worse, never giving them a moment to ceasefire and rest. But now that they had NOTHING to do… Kelly almost missed the Covenant bastards… almost. If they hadn't killed so many of her teammates, she would have been pining!

She flashed her amber acknowledgement light on her Heads-Up Display, signaling the group to halt; she bent over to examine a series of hoofprints. The fauna of the Dyson sphere was plentiful, but limited. Some kind of strange deer species inhabited the woods unchecked. There WERE no natural predators here. Except them, that is.

Ever since their arrival, the deer were learning to adapt to their new predators, and hid themselves with barely any effectiveness, as they were still new to the whole "prey" thing.

Halsey had explained to the Spartans that their new home was part of the Forerunner's 'Shield World' with Onyx being a cover for the real shield. The Forerunners, an ancient race that the Covenant derived their technology from, had built this place with the idea that any sentient beings, namely them, the "Reclaimers," that escaped the firing of the Halo rings were to remain in a place that kept them alive. They were living, alright, but they were not thriving.

The Spartans had been more than a little irritated with her when they found out that there was no technology for scavenging here. They had been tricked to be saved.

Kelly didn't mind this place so much. What she minded was the fact that there was no _challenge_ to the bloody place. The Spartans were growing ever more restless with each passing day. They all prayed for a breakthrough with Dr. Halsey.

Linda crouched low in the shadows, a herd of deer grazing lazily ahead. Kelly indicated that they should fan out with two fingers before they struck. If they had learned one thing about wolves from Déjà, their childhood teacher, it was that they needed to pick off the old and the sick before the young and healthy. "So they will always be there to feed them." She had said. Kelly grinned within the helmet of her Mark V MJOLNIR armor. She seemed to recall making a comment to Sam and John about that lesson, their stifled laughter had gotten them into trouble.

_John_, she sighed again. She missed their leader more than she let on. She always tried to avoid thinking about him, and all those family members that had been killed recently. She still couldn't comprehend Kurt's return from the dead, then death all over again.

She turned to focus on the matter at hand. Two large deer had gone down silently at the edge of the clearing. That would have been more than enough for their entire party, but Kelly wanted in on the action as well. Besides, they could ALWAYS use fresh food with the remaining Spartan-IIIs around. Their eating patterns were similar to the Spartan-IIs when they were still recovering from their augmentation procedures.

Her mind travelled off the topic of the mission once again. She could feel every bone in her body catch fire as she recalled the traumatic surgery that left her barely alive, but stronger than ever before.

Kelly re-focused and took down an older looking buck with ease. The Spartans exchanged their usual two-finger smile gesture and flung carcasses over each other's shoulders.

Once finished, they turned and tromped back towards their makeshift camp.


	3. Memory

A Covenant Elite crossed the Master Chief's field of vision.

He leveled his MA5B assault rifle to shoot, but thought better of it once he got past the adrenaline that spiked into his bloodstream. The Elite, dressed in ancient looking gold armor, carried an energy sword and strode up the steps of an equally ancient looking temple.

The Chief decided to follow him.

The alien paused at the top of the steps, waiting for him to catch up.

"Where are you taking me?" He asked, dazed. The alien said nothing, but turned towards the temple.

John stepped lightly on the pure marble, not wanting to scuff it with his dirty boots. His jaw dropped inside his helmet as he swept his gaze around.

The temple was staggering, its ionic columns soared more than three stories high, and it seemed to go on forever. He strode forward and gazed down each side of the temple. Along each wall was a pedestal bearing towering statues of men and women. John approached one and read the inscription.

"Samuel-034, Spartan II" He read. He sighed and looked up, recognizing Sam's strong features. Of all the Spartans that had died under his command, he missed Sam the most. John slung his MA5B over his shoulder and removed his helmet.

Resigned, he walked away from Sam's statue and read the base of the next one.

"Grace-093, Spartan II" He read from the base of the statue. He continued on, reading each statue as he passed. It had been so long since he had had a chance to reflect. His Spartans were gone, all of them.

For the first time in more than twenty years, the Master Chief cried.

When he reached the end of the mausoleum, the Chief was puzzled. He hadn't seen several of his Spartans. What could that mean? Was it even possible that they were still alive? Or was it just wishful thinking. He hoped it was the former, but couldn't know for sure.

With another resigned sigh, he wiped his eyes one last time and took a seat at the base of Kurt-051's statue before replacing his helmet.

"John," came a voice from nearby, nothing much more than a whisper. The Chief looked around for the source of the voice, his gaze falling on a slender young woman wearing a lab coat. It was Doctor Halsey, but she looked more like Cortana than he had ever seen her.

"Come, John, there is much work to be done." She said. John didn't respond, but followed her instead. When they reached the end of the marble mausoleum, a resounding thud shook him to his core. The temple began to quake and fall apart around him. He took off after Dr. Halsey, barely madking it out of the blast zone in time.

"Never forget," whispered the doctor as John slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

John's eyes cracked slightly, the smooth glass interior of his cryo-tube glittered, catching the light of a noontime sun. He sighed, realizing that his experience had been entirely a dream.

He bumped a button next to him with his armored fist and waited as the tube's lid opened. He stretched his cramped, sore muscles 'freezer burn,' as one Marine had described it, and climbed gracefully out of the pod.

"Cortana?" He asked. John cocked his head quizzically, surveying the wreckage of the _Dawn_. He strode towards the cracked windows and peered out. The landscape was beautiful, not unlike that of Reach's forests, but he didn't see any life forms nearby.

Pulling away from the window, he examined the console into which he had inserted Cortana's core processing unit. The machine was crunched inwards but upon further investigation, he found her core to be perfectly intact.

With that, he inserted the chip into the slot at the base of his skull; cool liquid poured into his mind, and he felt once again, completed.

"Chief? Is that you?" came the concerned voice of his female counterpart.

"Yeah." He said simply, moving towards the cryo-tube to collect what weapons he had.

"Thank God, I never thought we'd survive that one." She said.

"Where are we?" He asked, attaching a trio of grenades to the magnetic strips along his armor's thighs.

"I don't know, exactly, but you'll never guess what I've discovered engraved on the surface of the planet," she said, recovering much of her wily personality quickly.

"Try me." Somehow, he knew that she would have rolled her 'eyes' at that, had her avatar been present.

"There's an enormous Forerunner symbol etched into the crust, after analyzing it and comparing it to the glyphs in my database, I have concluded that it is their symbol for the word 'shield.' This planet may be the shield to the Halo ring's 'sword.'" She explained.

"What? If this is a 'shield' then that might explain the Ark's proximity." He stated.

"We won't know until we explore the planet a bit more." She said.

"You just couldn't wait to wake me up again, couldn't you?" The Chief said, bemused. He picked up an M6G Magnum that was relatively undamaged, and attached that as well to his mag-strip.

"Well, you know me, I hate being alone." She said flirtatiously. He couldn't help but smile at that.

"Let's get moving, I spotted a structure about half a klick west of our crash site, that may hold some answers." She said. A navigational marker appeared on his Heads-Up Display.

The Chief shook off his freezer burn and pushed his dream into a far corner of his mind, happy to have an objective once again.

"Oh and, Chief? It's good to see you again." Cortana said, relief infiltrating her cool voice.

"Good to see you too." He said, and with that, he shouldered his MA5B, and sprang lightly from the wreckage of the _Forward Unto Dawn._


	4. A Plan

**Sorry everyone for my procrastination. I hope this is helpful :3 If you have any suggestions, feel free to make them. I LOVE help with these things, they provide a perfect balm to writer's block, lulz.**

Kelly and the other Spartans arrived at their camp within the hour, slinging their kills near the fire pit they had dug early into their exile.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez sat on an indented boulder turning his last Sweet William cigar over and over in his hands. He was debating internally whether or not he wanted to light it was, unfortunately, the last one he had. He had forgotten that he had stuffed a couple in his uniform pocket early the morning that they had gotten stuck here. There would have been a celebration that evening, as it would have been the night of their team's graduation.

"Have a good trip?" he asked with a humorless smile.

"A successful, albeit boring one." Kelly said, pursing her lips behind her mirrored visor, she did that when she was annoyed.

"Don't worry, I think the Doc's on to something." He said, pointing his unlit cigar towards Dr. Halsey's hunched form.

"Let's hope so." She replied. With that, she clapped Mendez on the shoulder as lightly as he could tolerate, and strode towards the doctor.

Dr. Catherine Halsey was hunched over a personal data pad, its screen scrolled with schematics and complex equations. She had successfully connected her work station to a small, but powerful back-up battery that was standard issue in her health kit. There had been much healing to be done when they had first arrived here. Fortunately, her health kit covered everything that had come up. If things had been any worse… She shuddered to think about the possible results.

"Hello, Doctor." Kelly said, approaching her from behind. Dr. Halsey jumped, looking more harried than she had before.

"Hello, Kelly." She said, looking up at her very briefly before sliding her glance back down to the data pad. She frowned and shut down the portable computer.

"The Chief said that you might have had a breakthrough." Kelly stated hopefully, praying the Doctor would have good news.

She sighed and took off her glasses, tugging at them on their chain absentmindedly.

"These… Forerunners, as the Covenant call them; they were so much more advanced than us. I do believe it would be possible to break this Slipspace bubble, as I think this place is, but…" Her voice trailed off, and she stared blankly into space.

"But what?" Kelly asked earnestly.

"I need Cortana, or at least some kind of AI. I don't know if I can break this from the inside. If there was some way I could punch a hole small enough to send a transmission, I might be able to call for help, and relay instructions." She said gravely, as if she was still working out a plan.

Kelly's face fell within her helmet. It was fortunate that her visor hid her expression, but she knew that Halsey would know of her disappointment somehow. She always seemed to know their emotions.

Halsey sat, lost in thought for a few moments before setting down the data pad.

"I think I can complete my plan, but I'll need something to eat first." She said in as cheerful a voice as she could muster.

"Don't worry, ma'am, I'll have one of the S-3's get something going. At least they're getting a valuable lesson in survival." She said, trying to lighten the mood for both of them. Halsey cracked a weak smile and rose to her feet.

"Very well then, I'll have a chat with Mendez then while you all do the dirty work." She said with the same weak smile.

Kelly straightened up and strode towards the fire pit. Two of the five remaining active Spartan-IIIs, Mark and Olivia if she recalled correctly, played cards near the meat pile, chatting in good spirits. Kelly was only slightly annoyed that they were enjoying themselves, not enough to yell though.

"Mark, Olivia, would you take KP duty now?" She asked. The two younger soldiers looked up at her and cleared their cards without complaint. The Spartan-IIIs had made their peace with the Spartan-IIs. At first they had been resistant to their chain of command, as they were all the same rank. However, the Spartan-IIs had automatically assumed control of the situation. Generally speaking, the two different groups kept to themselves, but when there was work to do around the camp, they worked together.

The S-3's set to work skinning one of the deer carcasses with their durable military grade combat knives. They worked swiftly, and had a roast cooking within the hour.

All of the Spartans plus Dr. Halsey and Chief Mendez gathered around to eat later that evening as the "sun" set. The S-2's had begun swapping stories with the S-3's, another sign of their peace together. The S-3's were amazed at some of the scrapes their predecessors had gotten into. And admittedly, they were a little jealous of their public status. Their missions were always carried out in utmost secrecy, and they never did get to play the part of the hero.

Kelly didn't take part in the conversations that night, but looked on silently, unusual for her. She stared into the dancing flames, lost in thought. She didn't know how it would be done, but she knew one thing was certain: they had to get out of this place.


	5. Ghosts of Onyx

John and Cortana made their way through the sparse trees and grassy meadows towards the structure she had spotted earlier. John was surprised at how similar it was to his home planet of Reach. He recalled with a pang how it had fallen before the sheer might of the Covenant legions.

The war had gone on for so long, nothing else had mattered for the bulk of his life. He almost felt lost without something to fight. However, he was weary. He felt as though he could sleep for years.

Before long, the pair arrived at the structure, which turned out to be UNSC styled barracks. He was extremely surprised when they headed inside, and a large UNSC flag hung on the wall.

The place was very deserted, and it appeared as though something had happened, judging by the scorch marks and bullet holes on the surrounding turf. Several windows had been broken, and fragments of glass littered the floor.

"I have no records of this place. According to my database, this system had been searched and declared uninhabitable." Cortana said inside his helmet. John was puzzled, why on earth would the UNSC claim this place uninhabitable when it was as similar to Reach as Earth. Unless… They must be hiding something here.

"Can you see if there's anything about this system that's been deemed classified?" He asked Cortana.

"Searching… Nothing, just that it was deemed unfit for terraforming. Maybe if you can find a computer around here, I can find out more." She replied after a moment's pause. John nodded once and began his investigation.

To his great fortune, John discovered a large cache of weapons and ammunition in one of the far rooms. There were also several computers lining the wall. Most of them had been blown during whatever conflict that had taken place here, but there were a couple that seemed to still be in decent condition.

"Ready to take a peek?" She asked him, eager to get into the mainframe.

"When you are." He added with a grin. He yanked the chip from the back of his helmet and felt her cool presence withdraw from his mind.

Without second thought, he inserted her chip into the computer's drive. The computer's dust covered screen flickered to life, and Cortana's voice fed through its sound system.

"Ah… Not as much room in here as there is in your head." She said playfully.

"Yes, well…" He replied, raiding the cache of weapons. He found a canvas bag and began stuffing it with fragmentation grenades. He pilfered an Oracle scope off of an S2-AM sniper rifle and attached it to the mag strip on his left thigh.

After filling his bag the rest of the way with MA5B ammunition, he turned back to the computer banks.

"Find anything?" He asked.

"Yes… There's so much here… The Forerunners apparently have a large dwelling here. That's what deemed this place classified. They've been using it ever since as a training grounds… The AI… Endless Summer kept thorough records, but not of who they were training here."

"Well that doesn't help much. Anything else?"

"There was a battle here, these records end with the arrival of the UNSC flagship, _Stalingrad_. There was a large Covenant fleet. Something happened here and the UNSC groundside forces evacuated to the planet's core. The entrance was in Zone 67, the Forerunner ruins." Cortana replied.

"Wouldn't it have been easier to have just said that in the first place?" He said with mild amusement.

"Of course not." She said in a lyrical voice. John rolled his eyes inside his helmet and strode over to the computer.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

"Aren't I always?" She asked. John smiled and yanked her chip, re-inserting it into the slot at the base of his skull. Cortana's cool presence flooded his mind, comforting him deeply.

"Well then, let's get started." She said. John shouldered the bag, ensured that his MA5B was fully loaded, and headed out, following a nav point Cortana had uploaded to his heads-up display.


	6. I'm a Soldier, Not a Physicist

**Hey guys, thank you so much for all of you kind reviews! I think this time; I may actually be able to finish the story. This was kind of supposed to be a bridge between Halo 3 and my idea for Halo 4. I might write my version of a potential Halo 4 immediately following this.**

**I hope you all will forgive me for not being COMPLETELY canonically correct, as I may know a lot, but I certainly don't know EVERYTHING. Also, I have ABSOLUTELY no clue how to actually break out of a Dyson Sphere, I'm speculating. I'm a writer not a physicist ~_^**

"I can't believe I didn't think of this before!" came the dumbstruck voice of Dr. Halsey from across the camp. Every head around the campfire whipped around as quickly as though they had been struck by lightning.

"What? Did you figure out something?" Kelly asked, a small bubble of hope swelling in her chest. She rose to her feet and headed over to where Halsey sat, replacing her helmet, which she had taken off so she could eat.

"The concept… so simple… can't believe I overlooked the idea." She muttered. After a moment takking away at her computer, she turned around and looked up at Kelly.

"An explosion! We haven't used any explosives since we arrived here. An explosion of any magnitude will most certainly not be able to completely destroy the Dyson Sphere. However, it may open a hole small enough to send a transmission." She said enthusiastically. Kelly's body expressed surprise in a nearly undetectable way, but Dr. Halsey figured she was surprised at herself for not thinking of something like this sooner.

And indeed she was. Kelly stared at Dr. Halsey with disbelief at the simplicity of the plan.

"How soon can you have a transmission ready?" She asked, probably more enthusiastically than she should have been.

"I have already prepared it. The only problem is, we have no idea whether there is someone on the other side to receive it. If someone is listening, they may be able to help us. If not…" She explained.

"We could be stuck here a very long time." Kelly said with a sigh. She paused for a moment, mulling things over. They had a fairly decent amount of fragmentation grenades, and unless she was very much mistaken, at least one of them had a surface-to-air missile launcher with a couple of rockets left. It was most definitely worth a shot.

"Let's get started. We have enough explosives to try several times if need be." Kelly said, determined to get her team out of this place.

"Good idea." Dr. Halsey responded, closing her laptop. She began piling her things, which had been mostly sprawled on the ground in a semi-circle, and headed towards the campfire. Kelly smiled behind her visor, and followed at her heels.

"Everyone, we have a plan. I need all explosive devices sans your personal equipment. You all need to get the hell out of here. We're going to light a couple of fireworks in here." She said with a hopeful lilt to her voice. Several of the S-3s cheered subtly, and the S-2s seemed to have a new spring in their step as they cleared up their little camp and headed towards safer ground.


End file.
